Passenger vehicles include a powertrain that is comprised of an engine, multi-speed transmission, and a differential or final drive. The multi-speed transmission increases the overall operating range of the vehicle by permitting the engine to operate through its torque range a number of times. The number of forward speed ratios that are available in the transmission determines the number of times the engine torque range is repeated. Early automatic transmissions had planetary gear sets with two speed ranges. This severely limited the overall speed range of the vehicle and therefore required a relatively large engine that could produce a wide speed and torque range. This resulted in the engine operating at a specific fuel consumption point during cruising, other than the most efficient point. Therefore, multi-speed manually-shifted (countershaft transmissions) were the most popular.
With the advent of three- and four-speed automatic transmissions, the automatic shifting (planetary gear) transmission increased in popularity with the motoring public. These transmissions improved the operating performance and fuel economy of the vehicle. The increased number of speed ratios reduces the step size between ratios and therefore improves the shift quality of the transmission by making the ratio interchanges substantially imperceptible to the operator under normal vehicle acceleration.
It has been suggested that the number of forward speed ratios be increased to six or more. Six-speed transmissions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,927 issued to Polak on Jan. 31, 1978; U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,208 issued to Koivunen on Jun. 6, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,352 issued to Lepelletier on Apr. 21, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,251 issued to Beim and McCarrick on Feb. 4, 1997 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,969 issued to Raghavan and Usoro on Jul. 23, 2002.
Six-speed transmissions offer several advantages over four- and five-speed transmissions, including improved vehicle acceleration and improved fuel economy. While many trucks employ power transmissions having six or more forward speed ratios, passenger cars are still manufactured with three- and four-speed automatic transmissions and relatively few five or six-speed devices due to the size and complexity of these transmissions.
Seven-speed transmissions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,594 issued to Maeda; U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,839 issued to Baldwin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,135 issued to Baldwin et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,397 issued to Raghavan, Bucknor and Usoro. Eight speed transmissions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,592 issued to Takahashi et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,841 issued to Haka; U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,615 issued to Naraki et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,287 issued to Hayabuchi et al. The Haka and Hayabuchi transmissions utilize three planetary gear sets and six torque-transmitting devices, including two brakes and two clutches, to provide eight forward speed ratios and a reverse speed ratio. One of the planetary gear sets is positioned and operated to establish two fixed speed input members for the remaining two planetary gear sets. Seven- and eight-speed transmissions provide further improvements in acceleration and fuel economy over six-speed transmissions. However, like the six-speed transmissions discussed above, the development of seven- and eight-speed transmissions has been precluded because of complexity, size and cost.